{"id":16196,"date":"2017-01-04T12:03:05","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T17:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=16196"},"modified":"2017-01-04T12:03:05","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T17:03:05","slug":"hola-offers-voice-for-york-regions-hispanic-and-latino-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/hola-offers-voice-for-york-regions-hispanic-and-latino-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Hola offers voice for York Region\u2019s Hispanic and Latino communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Obstacles \u2013 it is the common thread that binds the immigrant experience whether you are just planting your own roots in Canada or researching the experiences of your pioneer ancestors.
\nBut, out of every obstacle comes amazing stories of perseverance and success, and it is those stories within York Region\u2019s Hispanic and Latino communities that Aurora entrepreneurs are seeking to share.
\n2017 will mark the first anniversary of Hola York Region, a new bilingual magazine founded by the husband-and-wife team of Chole Vargas and Cindy Shaver.
\nMr. Vargas, a financial advisor and clothing designer by trade, and Colombian native, along with Ms. Shaver, a writer and photographer with a publishing background, have pooled their passions for the magazine, seizing what they describe as a \u201cmoment\u201d for the growing Hispanic and Latino communities in the area.
\n\u201cWe are just in the right moment in York Region because it keeps growing,\u201d says Mr. Vargas.
\nAdds Ms. Shaver: \u201cWe saw an opportunity and questioned whether we wanted to go down this road right now. Obviously everyone has lots on their plate and we never know if it is the right time, but we thought if we don\u2019t act now this moment will pass and someone else might do it. Maybe not in the exact way we could do it, but we thought we had the experience, we have got the passion, so why not?\u201d
\nThe result is a glossy magazine available free of charge across York Region, including the Aurora Public Library, featuring stories about and relevant to both communities, published in English and Spanish, and illustrated with exclusive photos from Aurora\u2019s Dukat Studios, another husband-and-wife venture, run by Angela Durante Dukat and Laszlo Dukat.
\n\u201cWe started with knowing what we didn\u2019t want it to be,\u201d says Ms. Shaver. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want it to be about gossip and sad news, or beyond York Region. We might feature something that has an impact on our community, yet they are not local people, but we wanted it to feel inclusive and centred here.\u201d
\nAdds Chole: \u201cThere are so many good stories. Everyone has a good story that nobody knows and has good stuff to share. They can share their experiences and their lives. It is not easy to survive in Canada if you are coming from another country. There are so many obstacles. Language is one of them, the culture, your family, your customs, the people, and everything you\u2019re used to in your country, and you have to start almost from zero. There are amazing stories of people who start from the bottom and are coming along.\u201d
\nBut, it is not something catered solely to the Hispanic and Latino communities, Ms. Shaver and Mr. Vargas agree that the idea is to inspire people across the board and, perhaps, change some perceptions along the way. There are some \u201cstigmas\u201d that have plagued the Latin American and Hispanic cultures that are hold-overs from the 1980s, says Mr. Vargas, but the problems of that era have long passed.
\n\u201cA lot of people still make comments about the cocaine,\u201d says Mr. Vargas of his own experience as a Colombian. \u201cBut that was a long time ago and there are so many good things. Some people have a perception that it is another world. We really want to unite the two cultures, to promote each other and each other\u2019s businesses. It is really hard, especially for entrepreneurs, and I think this is another way we can support each other, which is very important for us as a community.
\n\u201cWorking as a team with Cindy has been really fun. We really enjoy working together.\u201d
\nFor more on Hola York Region, visit www.holayorkregion.com.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Obstacles \u2013 it is the common thread that binds the immigrant experience whether you are just planting your own roots in Canada or researching the experiences of your pioneer ancestors.
\nBut, out of every obstacle comes amazing stories of perseverance and success, and it is those stories within York Region\u2019s Hispanic and Latino communities that Aurora entrepreneurs are seeking to share.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":16183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/2017-01-05-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4de","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-18 00:51:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}